Friday, April 06, 2007

I hate to think how many pictures on this blog look almost exactly like the one above.Yet another salad made with fresh, local ingredients. Eaten in the dappled shadow at the table on the patio.Yeah, I should go back and count some time.See, that's what's going on chez Cookiecrumb. Always. I don't do complicated recipes. Beautiful produce is flooding the market. And of course, we had to sit outdoors in the gorgeous weather, hence the dapples.Ah, but there was a twist. Today's lunch was a bigger, more special version of that deliciously simple meal I take so many pictures of.Cranky and I had a friend over to eat with us. We wanted to show her how well we can feed ourselves on a strictly local diet, while not spending outlandish amounts of money. We served four courses, from a pert little amuse bouche to a calming, easy (and small) dessert.I'll talk about it later in the month, but I figured I'd show you today's familiar-looking salad.It's made with baby Romaine leaves, topped with sliced roasted baby beets in two colors. Then it's showered with crumbled blue cheese and toasted walnut bits. The dressing was a light amalgamation of mayonnaise, vinegar, salt and olive oil.Every one of the flavors in the salad was so intense, most surprisingly the lettuce (tastes of iron and chlorophyll), that just a small, casual plate of the stuff was enough to knock us silly.Besides, there was more to come.

When the stuff is good and fresh, less is always better!A lovely salad - and I like the dappled effect. The tree shading our terrace is a mulberry and it's always the last to leaf out....but, then it doesn't loose them until Christmas...Maybe it's just confused

I haven't been counting, and I'm not tired of them. When you have remarkably fresh produce and lovely weather, what's the worry? Living in CA, I sometimes forget that most of the country is still cold and eating hearty soups and salad days are far away.

CC, just check with my mom. She will tell you that she has never been able to get me to eat beets. It was the one baby food that I was guaranteed to spit out. Now my mom on the other hand loves all things with beets.

Dagny: I know. Some people can NOT do beets. I respect that. When I think about beets, in fact, they're slimy and stanky... Oh, but I have a recipe for beet-buttermilk soup (chilled) that might change your mind.

Who She?

I live a couple of miles from the Marin County Civic Center Farmers' Market, which feeds my little blogging hobby. Hell, it feeds me, too.
Formerly employed, I'm now a bum. Happy bum. Tomato ranchin' bum.
But I'm still mad.